Lunch Talk
by Queen Kakia
Summary: The first segment in my Chocolate and Apples series. Ginny meets Cho, and they have a little talk.


**Title**: Lunch Talk  
**Author**: Queen Kakia, KakiaGuerin@aol.com  
**Rating**: PG  
**Feeback**: Oh, please please please!  
**Disclaimer**: Not mine. Wish it were, though.  
**Summary**: Ginny meets Cho, and they have a little talk.  
**Notes**: The first segment in my Chocolate and Apples series. Takes place in Harry's fifth year (which is Ginny's fourth and Cho's sixth).  
  
  
Ginny absentmindedly stirred her chocolate pudding. It was her favorite food, but she wasn't hungry. And the designs that her spoon carved out in the thick brown liquid might distract her and actually keep her eyes away from The Table.  
  
Too late. Her gaze flew back to the place where Ron, Hermione, and Harry were sitting and talking about something or other. She didn't know what, because she hadn't been invited to sit with them.  
  
Not that there were no alternatives. Ginny glanced at the table where the other fourth years sat. A bitter smile crossed her face. No, better to sit alone than with Ophelia Hammond and her air-headed clones.  
  
There was a shuffling noise behind her, and Ginny looked up. Cho Chang, a gorgeous, popular sixth-year girl, was standing over her. What was she doing there?  
  
Cho flashed a sheepish smile. "Ginny Weasley, right? Ron's sister?" Ginny nodded. "Can I sit here?"  
  
Ginny wondered briefly where Cho's adoring masses were, but didn't make anything of it. "Uh...yeah." She moved her tray over an inch so that Cho would have room. Stupid, really, when the whole damned table was empty.  
  
"I like what you've done with the pudding," Cho said.  
  
What?  
  
Ginny looked down, and her face burned. While she had been dreaming, her idle hands had used her spoon to write "HARRY" in her pudding. She tried to smooth it over quickly, but it was in vain, seeing as how the damage had already been done. "I--uh..."  
  
Cho took a bite of an apple, then swallowed. She looked over at The Table, and Ginny followed her gaze. There they were again, and Hermione was saying somethihng and Harry was laughing and why couldn't ginny ever make Harry laugh like that and-- "They're not all that great, you know."  
  
Ginny blinked and forced her eyes back onto the Asian girl. Cho was looking at her, amused. "I think I can make those decisions for myself, thank you very much," she responded, a little more coldly than she'd intended.  
  
Cho shrugged. "Sorry."  
  
They fell into silence as they ate--Cho biting hungrily into her apple, and Ginny sipping her pudding like a bird. Finally, Cho dropped her apple into the garbage and looked back at her. "It's just that you idolize them-"  
  
"Have you been stalking me?" Ginny demanded.  
  
"-but they're just regular people," Cho continued, oblivious. "And especially Harry--he's not much better than anyone else out there, you know. I mean, sure, he's The Boy Who Lived, but other than that..."  
  
"Yeah, well, that's easy to say when _you're_ the one he's in love with," Ginny snapped.  
  
"Hey, that's not my fault," Cho retorted, the grin on her face finally gone. Good. She deserved to be in just as bad a mood as Ginny was. Then again, Ginny thought, the girl _did_ have a slightly infectious smile. "Don't place _your_ problems on _me_."  
  
God, now she felt guilty. "I--I wasn't," Ginny stuttered. "Sorry." She looked down, back into her pudding.  
  
The angry look disappeared and Cho smiled again, the conflict forgotten. It was amazing how she did that so easily. Amazing, but sort of scary. "Whatever. Don't worry about it." She looked at her watch. "Oh! I have to go. Extra credit for Trewalney's class. I need it--my predictions have been too positive lately." She shrugged. _Go figure._ "See you around, okay?"  
  
"Yeah. See you." Ginny smiled weakly, and Cho took off.  
  
Well, that wasn't a strange experience or anything. What exactly had that been all about? Ginny watched the other girl walk away, a strange grin threatening at the corners of her mouth.  
  
_Told you she had an infectious smile,_ whispered a voice in her head.   
  



End file.
